I would say no, don't use the plural. English adjectives don't have plurals. If we continued to inflect whole phrases as if in the language they came from, we'd say 'courts martials'; but we say 'courts martial' (if adhering to French style - or of course 'court martials' if wholly Englishing it).

The principle is probably that English has a category of plurality in nouns, and we admit foreign ways of forming it. But we don't ever import foreign grammar as such.

For example, you don't run 'emeritus' through the Latin cases, and say 'Oh, Professor Emerite', and 'give it to the professor emerito'. Adjectival plural is in the same boat: it's a feature of Latin grammar but not of English.

It would be different if the whole phrase was Latin: and indeed professor emeritus could be considered so, but its plural would then be professores emeriti.

Thanks Nicholas, for saying what I would have said if you hadn't said it first. While you can certain use emeriti and you would be absolutely correct linguistically from the point of view of Latin, every resource I've looked at says it is either uncommon or unusual usage. Stick to emeritus.

Actually, I incline rather than decline towards tsuwm's approach.

Of course, you could just say that they're pensioned off, or put out to grass or have been sent to the knacker's yard, or something.

All the former Chief Justices are male, but I am not sure the same is true of the former Chief Judges. I believe a jurist sitting on the US Supreme Court is properly titled Justice, not Judge.

I work in the Michigan court system, Keiva, and so I'm talking about Michigan courts. Members of the judiciary sitting on the Michigan Supreme Court call themselves Justices, while members of the judiciary on the lower courts -- including the Court of Appeals -- are Judges.

Why are so many of y'all having havers over a simple question which has a simple answer? A Latin passive participle, the 4th of the 4 principle parts of most verbs, is often used as an adjective, and is always given in the nominative singular masculine form and in the 2nd Declension form and is declined accordingly. A single judge who is a man would be a Judge emeritus, a woman would be a Judge emerita; two women Judges emeritae, two or more all men or a mixture of men and women, Judges emeriti. It's exacly the same as alumnus: you have one alumnus or alumna, two alumni or alumnae.

Jimthedog: Did you see the correct answer, or have you not got that far yet?

Incidentally, the above is not just an academic position -- I have actually seen a woman referred to as a something-or-other emerita. As to the propriety of mixing an English word with a Latin modifier and declining the Latin (at least as far as respects number and gender -- we don't pay attention to case), this is not infrequent. In fact, there is a word for it : macaronic.

well, the "original meaning" (hi bill) pertained to poesy and went something like this: Used to designate a burlesque form of verse in which vernacular words are introduced into a Latin context with Latin terminations and in Latin constructions. Also, applied to similar verse of which the basis is Greek instead of Latin; and loosely to any form of verse in which two or more languages are mingled together.

[The word seems to have been invented by Teofilo Folengo (‘Merlinus Cocaius’) whose ‘macaronic’ poem (Liber Macaronices) was published in 1517. He explains (ed. 2, 1521) that the ‘macaronic art’ is so called from macaroni, which is ‘quoddam pulmentum farina, caseo, botiro compaginatum, grossum, rude, et rusticanum’.]

Interesting fine distinction of terms here -- and a subtle confilict within AHD:

1) AHD, under "mixture', claimes that "blend and amalgam imply that the original components have lost their distinctness" [hence inapposite here]", -- but that "mixture has the widest application".

2) But elsewhere, under "mixed" and "mix (transitive)", AHD implies that the principal meaning is "blended".

I am reminded of the first bawdy comment I ever heard from my father's mouth. Debunking one who oversimplified by asserting what "the average American" wants, my father, "The Average American has one t*t and one b*ll."

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